Emmy Rossum says being 'witchy' is a nice change

KUSA - Actress and singer Emmy Rossum says she relished the chance to play a magical trouble-maker in the new romantic fantasy flick, "Beautiful Creatures." Rossum was our guest on 9NEWS 8 a.m.

The film is a big-screen adaptation of the first of four books in the Caster Chronicles series of supernatural young-adult novels by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

"I loved the character. When I read the script, I was just taken by her bawdiness, her kind of fun-loving brand of evil. I like a character that has gone over to the dark side, but has a gray area. It was terrifically fun to embrace the Ridley that I read about in all the books and bring her to life," Rossum explained.

Directed and written by Richard LaGravenese and co-starring Emma Thompson, Jeremy Irons, Eileen Atkins and Viola Davis, "Beautiful Creatures" follows the romance between bored South Carolina high school student Ethan Lawson Water, played by Alden Ehrenreich, and enchanting newcomer Lena Duchannes, played by Alice Englert. The pair meet shortly before Lena's 16th birthday, the day her fate is to be decided -- Light or Dark.

Rossum said she drew on numerous sources, aside from the novels and screenplay for the film, in preparing to play Ridley, Lena's cousin and a siren with dark powers.

"And also looking a little bit at Wicca and some spell books and trying to associate with that mentality, but what really worked most for me was looking at goddesses and there's a Norse goddess named Freyja and I kind of based Ridley a little around her energy," Rossum said. "All jobs are [educational.] You learn so much about different walks of life and different things about the world you didn't know."

She said the sexy costumes she wears in the movie also helped her transform into Ridley.

"It helped me get into character immediately because [the clothes] are so full of personality and there was such a kind of 'in-your-face' attitude in the wardrobe, hair and makeup. It was incredibly fun," she said.